


and when you smile all the things in my head go fuzzy with static (not unlike the quality of our video calls now that I think about it)

by driedupwishes



Series: somewhere across the sea, somewhere waiting for me [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Finale, Skype
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-26
Updated: 2014-09-26
Packaged: 2018-02-18 20:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2361470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Rin,” Haru said, voice just a tad too loud so close to his laptop’s microphone. It jolted through his headphones and hurt, oh lord, he hadn’t been expecting that. “Rin, can you hear me?”</p>
<p>Rin yelped a little bit and ended up reflexively pulling out his headphone cord. He hastily went to plug it back in, accidentally smashing his knuckles against the keyboard, and just before he could Haru’s confused half-shout of, “Rin?” echoed throughout the room.</p>
<p>“Oh my god,” Rin said, jamming the headphone cord back into his computer. “Lower your voice, you idiot, I can hear you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	and when you smile all the things in my head go fuzzy with static (not unlike the quality of our video calls now that I think about it)

“Haru,” Rin said. “Can you hear me?”

Haru’s mouth opened but Rin couldn’t hear anything. He sighed and dropped his head in his hands, fighting the urge to smother himself in pillows and laugh himself sick all at once. Of course it would go like this; he should have known better, honestly, Haru and electronics? They went together about as well as electronics and water did, which suited the other boy, but was rather annoying. Rin peeked back through his fingers, wishing that everything would magically fix itself, only to find Haru glaring at him through their dark fuzzy connection.

“Don’t scowl at me,” Rin said, smirking a little bit. “This is your fault.”

Haru’s mouth opened but then it shut almost immediately. Rin couldn’t tell if Haru just hadn’t said anything or if they had Skype lag. Then his computer beeped at him and Rin realized that Haru had typed something out for him. He sighed, grinning a little because he couldn’t help it, and then proceeded to hunt through the ridiculously confusing labyrinth of Skype windows for the chat box.

Not my fault. Yours. Help.

“Haru,” Rin sighed, trying his best not to laugh. “I think your mic might be muted.”

A few clicks later and then Rin had both the video call and the chat window visible. Behind both, peeking out judgmentally, was the website he had been on for the research paper that was due within the next couple of days. Haru had called just as he was finally sitting down to write the paper, but he had immediately shoved his notebook away and scrambled to answer the call without a single ounce of guilt. Haru was still scowling at him and Rin watched as Haru moved to jab at the keyboard again, only a little bit of lag weighing down his pixilated movements.

The beep noise sounded again and Rin decided it was more of a boop. But Rin didn’t really read what Haru had typed at first, too busy studying Haru’s face. The pixel thing was annoying, because it dulled the color of Haru’s eyes, and the idiot was hunched in the dark in his apartment, which meant he looked like a ghost lit up like the computer.

Rin wouldn’t have admitted that he found Haru’s hunched shoulders and sullen scowl adorable to Gou, but he might have admitted it to Sousuke. Sousuke would have understood, after all. Makoto would have understood too, but Makoto might have made him do something about it. Sousuke would have just sighed or snorted and informed Rin that _of course you think he’s cute, you always have, are you seriously just realizing this now?_

Rin might have been worried about how well he could imagine Sousuke’s response in his head, but just then Haru apparently managed to get his mic to work.

“Rin,” Haru said, voice just a tad too loud so close to his laptop’s microphone. It jolted through his headphones and hurt, oh lord, he hadn’t been expecting that. “Rin, can you hear me?”

Rin yelped a little bit and ended up reflexively pulling out his headphone cord. He hastily went to plug it back in, accidentally smashing his knuckles against the keyboard, and just before he could Haru’s confused half-shout of, “Rin?” echoed throughout the room.

“Oh my god,” Rin said, jamming the headphone cord back into his computer. “Lower your voice, you idiot, I can hear you.”

Haru’s scowl got deeper. “This is confusing,” he muttered resentfully and Rin wanted to kiss him. It was a feeling that Rin had harbored for a while, but since Haru had pressed a careful kiss against his cheek upon seeing him off at the airport Rin had embraced the idea instead of shoving it in a corner of his mind.

“It’s not confusing,” Rin said, grinning so wide his cheeks started to hurt. He had missed the sound of Haru’s voice. “You’re just bad with computers, Haru.”

“You sound like Nagisa,” Haru complained lowly. Rin laughed, loud and happy, and didn’t miss the tiny fuzzy twitch of Haru’s lips that was a brief smile. Haru went on to explain in a low grumble how he had been forced to call the blonde to get directions about how Skype was downloaded and then how contacts worked and it sounded like something Rin should have been paying attention to, but he found himself a little lost in the sound of Haru’s smooth voice and the way his face changed as he talked.

“Rei finally had to take the phone from him and give me better instructions,” Haru finished. Silence held for a second or two before Haru broke it with a sigh.

“You kissed me,” Haru said. Rin squawked a little bit as he blushed bright red, because he had sort of been expecting questions about training or Haru’s complaints about training or classes or anything but Haru mentioning the goodbye kiss.

“You kissed me first,” Rin yelped and on his screen Haru winced. Rin might have felt bad, but he was suddenly too distracted by the fact that he was pretty fucking sure Haru was blushing.

“Forget it,” Haru said, pulling back into the shadows while Rin edged closer to his computer screen, squinting to see better. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I wish I could kiss you now,” Rin said. He didn’t know where the bravery bubbling inside him was coming from, but Haru stilled completely, eyes sliding slowly to look at his camera. Rin’s heart thundered in his chest and he wished more than anything that the picture would be clear, no pixels, no static, no fuzz, so that he could memorize every flicker of Haru’s expression to parse it out later when he laid down to sleep.

“I wish you were here with me so that I could take you to every part of Australia I didn’t get to show you before,” he continued, “but more than I’d like to kiss you again.”

Haru definitely blushed this time, his cheeks going a shade darker than the rest of his skin. Rin really wished Haru was there with him then, because he didn’t think Haru had ever blushed before in his life. An ocean away Haru mumbled something too soft for the mic to pick up and Rin inched closer to his computer, fingers twitching restlessly on his bedspread.

“Didn’t catch that,” he said, chest tight, and Haru glanced away and huffed quietly.

“I said,” he started, but he seemed to lose steam, stuttering for a few seconds. And then, because that was the way of things, Skype ended their call abruptly.

“Oh come on,” Rin cried loudly. He scrambled to try to reconnect, but after a few seconds of trying to recall Haru the computer booped at him again. The computer stopped ringing with the dial tone as Haru presumably didn’t answer the call.

Sorry, Haru had messaged him. It says my connection’s too bad. I’ll have to get Rei to help me fix it when they visit.

Rin knew Rei and Nagisa weren’t set to visit Haru and Makoto for a few weeks. That meant he’d have to go a few weeks before he could hear Haru’s voice again. He groaned, feeling his shoulders slump with dismay.

**What were you going to say** , Rin typed stubbornly. He didn’t say anything about Rei, about their connection, about anything else. If he didn’t engage in any of the other topics then Haru wouldn’t be able to avoid him. Eventually, a few minutes after Rin had sent his message, he got a response.

I want you to kiss me too, was the only thing Haru said.

It was the first time Rin had regretted picking training in Australia over training in Japan, but then the chat window added a message from Haru asking about his training and if he was making any friends, the other boy obviously moving the conversation along, and the disappointment in Rin’s chest eased up.

He’d kiss Haru next time he saw him, he decided, and then he would kick his ass in a race. Until then he’d just have to train and tide himself over with chat messages until the idiot got his internet connection under control. It helped that the last message he got before he logged off to get some serious work done on his paper was simply, I miss you.

It hurt, but it also helped to know Haru missed him too. But one day they’d get their dream, together, and then Rin would kiss the hell out of him and they would live happily ever after.

“As if,” Rin snorted softly to himself, chuckling a bit. He could only be so lucky, but maybe, just maybe, after the hell that had been middle school the universe owed him. He held that hope locked away in the depths of his heart as he pulled his notebook back to him on his bed, intent on getting the paper written before he turned in for the night.

**Author's Note:**

> It is once again five am. And I am posting things. That have not been. Edited yet? 
> 
> I am not a wise man, alright. Anyway, this is the sequel. I'm going to go over it more closely tomorrow (hopefully), but I got such nice responses from the last part I had to post this as soon as I saw. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this! :)


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